


Tempestuous

by INMH



Series: trope-bingo Fanfiction Fills 2018 (1st Half) [18]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/F, F/M, Love Triangles, Multi, Romance, Spoilers, Strong Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 18:55:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14026584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/INMH/pseuds/INMH
Summary: Rachel ponders on Chloe and Frank.





	Tempestuous

It isn’t that Rachel doesn’t love Chloe.  
  
She just doesn’t… Love her _that way._  
  
It’s not that she doesn’t like girls (she does) and it’s not like she doesn’t think Chloe’s great (she does) it’s just that… Rachel can’t put it into easy words, per se. It’s not one thing that Chloe is or does, it’s just that they all come together to make someone that Rachel’s just not romantically interested in.  
  
Chloe, though, doesn’t seem to get that.  
  
And Rachel doesn’t mean to lead her on, doesn’t mean to accept the affection with a shaky smile, it’s just that she’s not sure Chloe would still want to be her friend if she rejected her. And besides, she can hear the backlash now: _What was all that with the Tempest? What was all that with the constant pleas that we go somewhere? That you wouldn’t let me go?_  
  
And somehow, Rachel thinks her protest of _I didn’t mean it like **that** _ would fall on deaf ears. She loves Chloe, but Chloe has a way of taking everything Rachel says that she doesn’t want to hear and blowing it up.  
  
She’d have fifty fucking fits if she knew about Frank.  
  
It’s different with him.  
  
It’s different because even though Frank doesn’t plan on leaving Arcadia Bay, even though he doesn’t seem especially thrilled about her intent to become a model, he… He _listens_ in a way that Chloe doesn’t. Rachel doesn’t like to think about the fact that she can tell Frank a lot of things, and he really doesn’t lose his shit about it: So long as Rachel’s not doing anything breathtakingly stupid, like jumping off cliffs or shooting up heroin (she takes pot and only pot), he really isn’t interested in ripping her apart over it. He’s her boyfriend, and he knows it; not her father.  
  
It isn’t even that Chloe tries to play _mom_ to her (the word prickles Rachel’s skin, because now two women come to mind when that word comes to her) so much as it is that Chloe’s just- she’s just-  
  
She’s judgmental! There, she said it!  
  
The moment Rachel does or says anything that Chloe doesn’t like, she gets the stink-eye! She gets judged! She gets the silent treatment, or she gets the passive-aggressive ‘oh-I’m-not-going-to-tell-you-what-you-did-you-need-to-figure-it-out’ treatment!  
  
Once upon a time, Rachel might have maybe not been opposed to getting with Chloe. She might have been willing to kiss her and touch her, the added sexuality and overt romantic behavior the only thing missing from their current relationship.  
  
But now? Now Rachel’s feeling suffocated. It used to be that she could tell Chloe everything, but as time has gone on and Chloe’s affections have taken a pretty hard, obvious romantic turn, she feels like she has to _hide_ things from her the way she has to hide things from her parents, from Wells, from her classmates, from _everyone._ Chloe used to be the one in on everything, and now she’s part of the ‘people I have to hide myself from’ category.  
  
It breaks Rachel’s heart.  
  
And Frank is good at making her feel better, whether it’s curling up with her, or getting Pompidou to snuggle with her while he does his business. Frank doesn’t prod with too many questions that Rachel would have a hard time answering- maybe it’s because he’s a drug-dealer, because he’s used to minding his own goddamn business, but he really doesn’t stick his nose into her business too much. He doesn’t want or need to know, and so Rachel doesn’t feel the threat of judgment because Frank doesn’t give a fuck.  
  
She used to think that Chloe didn’t give a fuck either. But she’s realized, slowly, that it’s more like Chloe gives way too many fucks about way too many things, whether they’re her business or not.  
  
Still, Rachel feels the same guilt she always feels about keeping secrets from the people she loves; she feels even guiltier about keeping them from Chloe, who used to be her sole respite, her true confidant.  
  
Rachel feels stuck.  
  
And Rachel doesn’t like feeling stuck.  
  
She needs to get out.  
  
Chloe wants to come.  
  
Maybe Frank will come.  
  
God, she can’t do this right now. Nathan wants to talk to her, wants to ask her about her modeling career, and Rachel thinks maybe he might want to take some pictures of her. Nathan can be weird, but he’s not a terrible kid, and she’s willing to throw him a bone for his photography and her career.  
  
And it’ll be a nice distraction from her other problems for now.  
   
-End


End file.
